Automobile racing employing open wheeled race cars has enjoyed widespread popularity throughout the world. Currently in the United States, the Indy Racing League (IRL) enjoys a very large audience at each of its super speedway venues. At each of these events, large numbers of fans pay to see high-powered, high-speed open-wheeled race cars compete on an oval track. The cost to the teams competing in these events is quite substantial, usually being measured in the millions of dollars for a single season.
At the grass roots motor sports level, there are several rear-engine open-wheeled race car series which are designed to be attractive to entry-level racers and those at the lower levels of the racing hierarchy. Examples include, Formula Vee, Formula Ford, and Toyota Atlantic race car designs. Such races are normally amateur events, not run for money. Each of these race car platforms are appealing to racers at these levels because of their relatively low cost and the thrill that can be obtained from racing them. Typically, these machines will have top speeds in the 100-120 mph range, depending upon the track that they are raced upon. However, all of these rear-engine open-wheeled race cars are raced on road courses rather than on ovals.
Additionally, prior experience has proven that these racing platforms are not popular with spectators, and consequently, such races are attended by few spectators who do not have some personal relationship with the race car drivers or car owners. In fact, the organizers of these events do not even attempt to sell tickets to spectators. It is believed that much of the reason for lack of fan support for these race series results from the fact that the cars, while superficially resembling the higher echelon race cars such as IRL cars, do not obtain as high a top speed as the IRL cars, are much quieter, are smaller, and have thinner wheels. All of these factors appear to decrease the amount of excitement felt by spectators while watching these cars race.
There do exist a number of oval track venues for racing levels below the IRL level, such as midget cars and sprint cars, and these events do attract large numbers of paying spectators. These are normally professional events run for money. However, these cars are all front-engine cars (rear-engine cars normally being disallowed by the rules) that race predominantly on short dirt tracks and that do not reach very high top speeds (as compared to IRL cars).
There is therefore a need in the racing industry for a rear-engine open-wheeled race car designed for oval track racing that has a low enough cost for race drivers at the lower echelons of the racing hierarchy to afford, but will still obtain very high maximum speeds, create a sound similar to the IRL race cars, and look physically similar to the IRL cars, thereby drawing paying spectators to watch the cars compete. The present invention is directed toward meeting this need.